Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 94
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 4, 2008, 1:25 AM CST for 34 counties in Alabama; 13 counties in Georgia; 7 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 4, 2008, 1:25 AM CST (07:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 4, 2008, 9:00 AM CST
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 54 counties
Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Blount County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Cullman County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Lee County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Macon County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Pike County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Russell County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Carroll County, GA, Catoosa County, GA, Chattooga County, GA, Dade County, GA, Floyd County, GA, Gordon County, GA, Haralson County, GA, Harris County, GA, Heard County, GA, Polk County, GA, Troup County, GA, Walker County, GA, Whitfield County, GA, Bradley County, TN, Franklin County, TN, Hamilton County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Marion County, TN, Moore County, TN, Sequatchie County, TN
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:25 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 80%
Warnings issued inside it
9 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 4, 1:43 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN | Cullman | 47 min |
| Mar 4, 1:46 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Dallas, Perry | 44 min |
| Mar 4, 2:08 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Shelby, Tuscaloosa | 52 min |
| Mar 4, 2:26 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN | Cullman, Morgan | 34 min |
| Mar 4, 2:31 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chilton, Coosa, Shelby, Talladega | 44 min |
| Mar 4, 3:03 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Dallas, Lowndes | 42 min |
| Mar 4, 3:13 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Clay, St. Clair, Talladega | 47 min |
| Mar 4, 3:16 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton, Coosa | 44 min |
| Mar 4, 4:00 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery | 45 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 89 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1699 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 110 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 273 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 040725
SEL4
SPC WW 040725
ALZ000-GAZ000-TNZ000-041500-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 94
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
125 AM CST TUE MAR 4 2008
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN AND EASTERN ALABAMA
WESTERN GEORGIA
SOUTHERN TENNESSEE
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY MORNING FROM 125 AM UNTIL 900 AM CST.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 75 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF
CHATTANOOGA TENNESSEE TO 30 MILES SOUTH OF MONTGOMERY ALABAMA.
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU4).
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 93...
DISCUSSION...BROKEN SQLN WITH EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS WILL CONTINUE
STEADILY EWD ...WHILE INDIVIDUAL STORMS MOVE RAPIDLY NNE ALONG IT.
INCREASING LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE...AND STRENGTHENING WIND FIELD ON ERN
SIDE OF EJECTING OK/AR TROUGH...WILL CREATE ENVIRONMENT FAVORABLE
FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES AND NARROW SWATHS OF DAMAGING WIND THROUGH
LATER THIS MORNING.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21045.
...CORFIDISPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 3, 8:59 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Crenshaw and 10 more | 61 min |
| Mar 3, 9:56 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Bibb, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh and 16 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 4, 1:09 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Fayette and 10 more | 66 min |
| Mar 4, 2:30 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers and 23 more | 90 min |
| Mar 4, 3:21 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw and 6 more | 9 hr |
| Mar 4, 4:55 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bullock, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Elmore and 6 more | 95 min |
| Mar 4, 10:17 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, DeKalb and 4 more | 118 min |
| Mar 4, 10:56 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill and 79 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 4, 11:04 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Bleckley and 96 more | 8 hr |
| Mar 4, 1:30 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Butts, Clarke and 40 more | 90 min |
| Mar 4, 3:31 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Lincoln | 8 hr |
| Mar 4, 4:48 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Chatham, Effingham, Liberty and 2 more | 57 min |
| Mar 4, 5:27 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Columbia and 11 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 4, 9:38 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bledsoe, Campbell, Cannon, Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb and 14 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2008Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2008Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.